Robert Duvall Joins Robert Downey Jr. in 'The Judge'

David Dobkin is directing the Warner Bros. murder mystery.

Robert Duvall has signed on to play Robert Downey Jr.’s father in The Judge, a Warner Bros. dramedy which David Dobkin is directing.

Downey is on board to star as a successful attorney who returns to his hometown for his mother's funeral only to discover that his estranged father, the town's judge, is the murder suspect. The man sets out to discover the truth and along the way reconnects with the family he walked away from years before.

The studio courted Jack Nicholson for the part but the notoriously finicky actor ultimately passed.

Judge will be a co-production between Team Downey and Dobkin’s Big Kid Pictures. Susan Downey, Dobkin and David Gambino are producing.

Duvall was last seen in Jack Reacher with Tom Cruise and recently wrapped an indie titled A Night In Old Mexico. He is repped by ICM, Prospect Park and Hanson Jacobson.